Combination oral and cartridge inflator for life preserver vest

ABSTRACT

The oral inflator, pressure relief valve, and multiple individually actuated cartridge inflators are all mounted at a single location on the life preserver vest.

United States Patent References Cited [72] Inventor ManiredSchuler 669mmm 999m B 9 s m m w W m m m m m E m mm M n m m N P W m mm 0" u BR "A mm /mm S m mwE w vMAR m 5682 N9346 um IHHH 0572 00679 011. 7049 444 223 mcv w. a m. m w n0 W ow m wmm NMJ -A 0 dc N mm wmmm S AHMA US URN-h.

55,045 7/1943 Netherlands................. 783,497 9/1957GreatBritain................

Primary Examiner-Milton Buchler 1 Assistant Examiner-Paul E. Sauberer[54] COMBINATION ORAL AND CARTRIDGE INFLATOR FOR LIFE PRESERVER VEST Y 4Cla1ml,3 Drawing Figs.

Attorneys-George W. Price and Walter Lewis 9/320, 222/5 1163c 9/24ABSTRACTrThe oral inflator, pressure relief valve, and mul- 9/31 1. 320,tiple individually actuated cartridge inflators are all mounted 318,3.19, 316, 314, 317; 222/3-6; 9/31 l-320 at a single location on thelife preserver vest.

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MA NFRED SCHULER ATTORNEY PATENTEU JUL] 3:9?! 35914877 sum 2 [1F 2INVENTOR. MANFRED SCHULER ATTRNEY COMBINATION ORAL AND CARTRIDGEINFLATOR FOR LIFE PRESERVER VEST Oral and cartridge inflators andpressure relieve valves are well known in the life preserver vest art.However, heretofore these elements have been located at different places'on the vest, and this is believed to be a poor arrangement from thestandpoint of safety. In an emergency situation a person may becomeconfused as to where these various parts are located.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide what is believedto be a safer and more economical arrangement of the aforemention parts.

Briefly, in the invention the aforementioned parts are all mounted orassembled together into a unitary assembly and located together at asingle location on the vest so that everything will be readilyaccessible to a person in an emergency situation.

The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are setforth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself,however, both as to its organization and operation, together withfurther objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood byreference to the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a broken away front elevation view of a preferred form of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a broken away side elevation view; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view.

Referring now particularly to the drawings, the preferred fonn of theinvention comprises a unitary single-piece plastic material housingmember 10. Housing is annular and generally flat. It has a centrallylocated through aperture 11 and front and rear facing sides 12 and 13respectively. Also, it is generally square in external outline. All theoperative and necessary parts of the invention are mounted in or on thehousing 10.

On its top side is positioned a rubber oral inflator tube 14. The outerend of tube 14 has a one-way check valve subassembly 15, the details ofwhich are not disclosed since this is a very well-known type of device,see for example US. Pat. No. 3,396,743 (1968) assigned to theHalkey-Roberts Corporation of Paramus, New Jersey. Briefly, this deviceis of the type that when the tip 15' is depressed by finger pressure orabutting it against the lips of the mouth the not shown internal valveis opened so that air can be exhausted through tube 14 or orally blowninto the tube to exhaust or orally inflate the life vest manifold 16.The life vest manifold is defined by inner and outer layers 17 and 18.

Also mounted on the top side of the housing 10 are a pair of CO gascartridges 19. They have their lower ends screwed into apertures formedin the top of housing 10. Their lower ends are frangible byspring-loaded pointed plungers 20 in a manner well known in the art.Plungers 20 are spring urged away from cartridges 19. However, whenL-shaped levers 21 are pulled down the plungers 20 are raised to releasegas from the cartridges 19. This sequence is apparent by comparing theleftand right-hand levers 21 in FIG. 1. After the right-hand lever 21 ispulled further it clears the plunger so that it is withdrawn from thepunctured cartridge so that its gas can be exhausted. Before the levers21 can be operated they must be pulled forcibly to break their wireconnection 22 to the housing 10. The plungers 20 and levers 21 aremounted in suitable recesses formed in the housing 10. However, thecartridges 19 can be individually fired since they have individualfiring mechanisms 20, 21.

A unitary single piece plastic material tubular member 23 has a snug fitin the aperture 1 l of housing 10. It has an interior hollow 24 whichopens into vest chamber 16. A central external annular groove 25 isformed in tubular member 23. A plurality of through holes 26 are formedin the base of groove 25. The holes 26 open into the hollow 24. The tube14 at its inner end is connected to a nipple 27. A passage 28 extendsfrom nipple 27 to the groove 25. Thus, when the vest is orally inflatedgas enters the vest from the tube 14 by the path 28, 25, 26 and 24. Thepath of gas travel is reversed when exhausting the vest by depressingtip 15'.

A second groove 29 is formed in the tubular member 23. This groove isseparated from the groove 25 by a shoulder 30 which has a snug fit inaperture 11 so as to isolate grooves 25 and 29 from each other. Passages31 in the housing 10 extend from adjacent the lower ends of cartridges19 to the second groove 29. There are also a plurality of passages 32formed in the right-hand flange end (when viewing FIG. 2) of tubularmember 23 which extend from the second groove 29 to the vest chamber 16.Thus, when either of the cartridges are fired the path of gas traveltherefrom is via 31, 29, and 32 into vest chamber 16. The advantage ofisolating grooves 25 and 29 from each other is that the path of gastravel due to oral inflation or by cartridge is separated one from theother. Therefore, if by accident one or both cartridges is fired when aperson has the tip 15 in his mouth, the high-pressure cartridge gas willnot backfire into the persons mouth. Rather, it first has to go into thevest chamber 16 where it is reduced in pressure before it can reach themouth via 24, 26, 25, 28, 27 and 14.

If the pressure in the vest is excessive it is relieved through theleft-hand valved end (when viewing FIG. 2) of tubular member 23. Thisleft-hand end of tubular member 23 is at the front side of the housing10 or life preserver vest. The valved end of tubular member 23 has aone-way automatic check valve for pressure relief from inside the vest.The left end of tubular member 23 has a valve seat 33 formed thereon. Avalve element 34 is seated on seat 33 and it is biased to closedposition by a coil spring 35. The valve end of tubular member 23 isclosed by a vented cap 36. The left end of tube 23 and the cap 36 arethreaded for engagement with each other.

I Slight turning of the cap 36 can vary the closure-force on the valveelement 34. In addition however, turning'the cap 36 down on tube 23sealingly clamps the whole assembly to the life vest. The right-hand orinner end of tube 23 has an integral flange 37. It is fitted inside thehole in the outer vest layer 18. Both sides of this vest hole arebounded by a pair of sealing rings 38. When the cap 36 is turned down onthe threaded valve end of tubular member 23 this causes seal clamping ofthe vest layer 18 between the seals 38 and their contiguous flange 37and rear housing side 13. The relief of excessive pressure from withinthe vest of course is through the hollow 24, the valve element 34, andthe vented cap 36 to the ambient.

The tubular member 23 has a third groove 39 in which is disposed asealing ring 40. This seal 40 is snug in the aperture 1 1 to preventescape of gas other than by automatic unseating of valve element 34 ormanual opening of valve 15 by depression oftip 15.

It will now be seen that the invention provides a compact and economicalarrangement of all necessary parts in a single assembly or housing. Thismeans that all the necessary functions of a life preserver or divingvest are now positioned at a single readily accessible location on thevest.

While there has been shown and described a particular embodiment of theinvention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changesand modifications may be made without departing from the invention, andthat it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such changes andmodifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

lclaim:

1. In a life preserver vest having inner and outer layers for forming aninflatable interior manifold, apparatus for inflating said vest, whichcomprises:

a housing having an aperture therethrough affixed to one side of thevest, said aperture communicating with the interior of the vest througha hole provided in the outer layer thereof,

a hose mounted to the housing and communicating with said aperture,

a manually operated valve mounted in the hose for permitting gas to beblown into the hose, through the aperture and into the vest,

at least one gas cartridge mounted on the housing and communicating withsaid aperture,

means for piercing said gas cartridge,

a tubular member mounted in said aperture for sealing said hose fromsaid gas cartridge, said tubular member including a flanged endpositioned on the far side of the portion of the outer layer of the vestsurrounding the hole therein, a threaded end and conduit means providingseparate communication to the interior of the vest from the hose and thegas cartridge,

a relief valve positioned against the end of said tubular member havingthe threaded portion and operable to port gas from said vest to theatmosphere upon the attainment of pressure therein of more than apredetermined amount, and

a cap adapted to be threaded on the threaded portion of the tubularmember and clamp said vest outer layer portion between the flanged endand the housing, said cap having apertures therein to permit gas portedby the relief valve to pass therethrough to the atmosphere.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, the conduit means forconducting gas into said vest from said hose comprises an externalannular groove formed in the central portion of said tubular member, apassageway in said housing extending from said hose to said annulargroove, and a plurality of apertures formed in the bottom of saidannular groove and opening into the interior hollow of said tubularmember and the conduit means for conducting gas into said vest from saidcartridge comprises a second external annular groove formed in saidtubular member, passageways in said annular member extending fromsaidcartridges to the second annular groove, and a plurality of aperturesformed in the flange end of the tubular member and extending from thesecond external groove into said vest.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said housing comprises aunitary single-piece plastic member, said tubular member and its flangecomprises another unitary single-piece plastic member, a shoulder isformed on said tubular member between said external annular grooves toisolate them from each other, a third external annular groove is formedin said tubular member, a sealing ring is disposed in said third grooveto seal said tubular member in said annular member, said third groovebeing disposed between the first-mentioned groove and said threaded end,and said second groove is disposed on the opposite side of saidfirst-mentioned groove.

4. In a life preserver vest having inner and outer layers for forming aninflatable interior manifold, apparatus for inflating said vest, whichcomprises:

ahousing having an aperture therethrough afi'ixed to one side of thevest, said aperture communicating with the interior of the vest througha hole provided in the outer layer thereof,

a hose mounted to the housing and communicating with said aperture,

a manually operated valve mounted in the hose for permitting gas to beblown into the hose, through the aperture and into the vest,

at least one gas cartridge mounted on the housing and communicating withsaid aperture,

means for piercing said gas cartridge,

means mounted in said aperture for sealing said hose from said gascartridge, and

a relief valve mounted in said aperture for porting gas from said vestto the atmosphere upon attainment in said vest of pressure of more thana predetermined amount.

1. In a life preserver vest having inner and outer layers for forming aninflatable interior manifold, apparatus for inflating said vest, whichcomprises: a housing having an aperture therethrough affixed to one sideof the vest, said aperture communicating with the interior of the vestthrough a hole provided in the outer layer thereof, a hose mounted tothe housing and communicating with said aperture, a manually operatedvalve mounted in the hose for permitting gas to be blown into the hose,through the aperture and into the vest, at least one gas cartridgemounted on the housing and communicating with said aperture, means forpiercing said gas cartridge, a tubular member mounted in said aperturefor sealing said hose from said gas cartridge, said tubular memberincluding a flanged end positioned on the far side of the portion of theouter layer of the vest surrounding the hole therein, a threaded end andconduit means providing separate communication to the interior of thevest from the hose and the gas cartridge, a relief valve positionedagainst the end of said tubular member having the threaded portion andoperable to port gas from said vest to the atmosphere upon theattainment of pressure therein of more than a predetermined amount, anda cap adapted to be threaded on the threaded portion of the tubularmember and clamp said vest outer layer portion between the flanged endand the housing, said cap having apertures therein to permit gas portedby the relief valve to pass therethrough to the atmosphere.
 2. Apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein, the conduit means for conducting gas intosaid vest from said hose comprises an external annular groove formed inthe central portion of said tubular member, a passageway in said housingextending from said hose to said annular groove, and a plurality ofapertures formed in the bottom of said annular groove and opening intothe interior hollow of said tubular member and the conduit means forconducting gas into said vest from said cartridge comprises a secondexternal annular groove formed in said tubular member, passageways insaid annular member extending from said cartridges to the second annulargroove, and a plurality of apertures formed in the flange end of thetubular member and extending from the second external groove into saidvest.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said housing comprisesa unitary single-piece plastic member, said tubular member and itsflange comprises another unitary single-piece plastic member, a shoulderis formed on said tubular member between said external annular groovesto isolate them from each other, a third external annular groove isformed in said tubular member, a sealing ring is disposed in said thirdgroove to seal said tubular member in said annular member, said thirdgroove being disposed between the first-mentioned groove and saidthreaded end, and said second groove is disposed on the opposite side ofsaid first-mentioned groove.
 4. In a life preserver vest having innerand outer layers for forming an inflatable interior manifold, apparatusfor inflating said vest, which comprises: a housing having an aperturetherethrough affixed to one side of the vest, said aperturecommunicating with the interior of the vest through a hole provided inthe outer layer thereof, a hose mounted to the housing and communicatingwith said aperture, a manually operated valve mounted in the hoSe forpermitting gas to be blown into the hose, through the aperture and intothe vest, at least one gas cartridge mounted on the housing andcommunicating with said aperture, means for piercing said gas cartridge,means mounted in said aperture for sealing said hose from said gascartridge, and a relief valve mounted in said aperture for porting gasfrom said vest to the atmosphere upon attainment in said vest ofpressure of more than a predetermined amount.